Persistence
by Bug-chan
Summary: Ryu and Ken beat Bison...only to see him come back again...r/r plz. it's my 1st fic
1. Chapter 0 Prologue

Persistence  
by bug-chan  
  
  
Prologue  
  
A year has passed since the defeat of M. Bison by the combined effort of Ryu and Ken. Ever since that battle, Ken returned to his loving wife Eliza and his extravagant life while Ryu returned to his home of Japan and continued to train and meditate. Everyone else went back to normal business.  
  
FLASHBACK  
  
Bison levitated slowly, with an evil smirk on his face and holding a limp Chun Li on one hand and an equally limp Guile on the other. Ryu could do nothing but watch, shocked and horrified at the sight of the battered bodies, in stark contrast to Bison's smooth and crisp clothes.   
  
"Ah, if it isn't Ryu, the champion of the street fighters," Bison greeted, emphasizing "Champion". Ryu silently stood there, replacing the shocked expression with his emotionless mask. "And champion you are, as opposed to these pathetic fools called fighters," he continued. He then dropped both bodies unceremonioulsy on the floor; both didn't budge an inch. He then got on his feet and took up a fighting stance. Ryu followed suit. Without warning, Bison disappeared into his teleporting, confusing Ryu greatly, only to strike him from the top seconds later, flattening him on the floor face down.  
  
"Ryu, I shall make a proposal for you. Join my army and everyone here lives," Bison said, looking down at Ryu.  
  
"Never."  
  
"Then DIE!!!! Psycho Crusher!" Bison became a torpedo of psychic energy and rammed towards Ryu. Ryu rolled to the side and got back on his feet. He faced towards the trailing blaze of psychic energy and proceeded to throw a fireball. "Hadoken!" It hits its mark, but Bison didn't look hurt.  
  
"Heh, is that all you have for me? A mere, trivial fireball?" he asks with is back to Ryu. Ryu then started to dash towards him and at the last possible moment, Bison thrust his elbow back. It missed and Ryu counterattacked with a Dragon Punch. "Shoryuken!" and up went Ryu, along with Bison getting uppercutted. When both got down, one on two feet and the other on the back, Ryu said, "I may be the strongest, but these people are my equals. They are my friends."  
  
"Friends? Since when did you have friends, oh Great Warrior?" mocked Bison. This was the last straw for Ryu. He picked Bison up and kicked him hard, sending him flying towards a wall. He then took his hands backwards in Hadoken fashion, this time...  
  
"Shinkuu.........HADOKEN!!!" Ryu shouted and let loose a massive fireball, hitting Bison and knocking him out. Moments later, running noises were heard and Ken appeared, somewhat battered but otherwise OK.  
  
"Ryu! You OK?" Ken asked with concern, noticing some bruises and rips on Ryu's gi.   
  
"Yeah, I'm OK. Give me a hand with Chun Li and Guile. How are the rest?"  
  
"Everyone else is OK and out of here. It's just us now," Ken replied and went to grab Guile.  
  
"Indeed, it is just us now." Ryu and Ken turn towards Bison, Ryu in horror and Ken in shock. "That was a good one there, Ryu. But I'm afraid you will be the one going down, and permanently." He then looks at Ken. "Ah, and I have another one to play with? I must be lucky today!"  
  
"Oh," replied Ryu.  
  
"Shit," finished Ken.  
  
"PSYCHO CRUSHER!!!" Bison blasted through both Shotokan martial artists, knocking both of them out of air and to the floor. As both got up, catching their breaths, Bison was nowhere to be seen.  
  
"Where is he?" Asked Ken. Suddenly, he fell down and Ryu looked up, only to see two feet coming down on him. He then fell down like Ken.  
  
"This is becoming much fun!" Bison smirked. He then used his powers to pull up Ryu and Ken in front of him. "How does a proposal sound to you? You two shall join as the highest ranks within Shadaloo and everyone lives. You don't, then you die." Ryu glared at him as his response and Ken spat on his face. After a few seconds, Bison said, "Very well, suit yourself," and threw both of them towards a wall, HARD. Both slowly got up, amid the pain raging within their bodies and slowly started to make their way towards Bison. Then, ignoring the pain, both started running, with Ken stopping to do...  
  
"Shoryu-reppa!!!" This caught Bison totally by surprise and he took all hits, and not to mention all the burns with it. Too bad for Bison, it wasn't going to end any time soon.  
  
"Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuu Kyaku!!!!" Bison's body then became a punching bag for Ryu's feet, whacking him around like a merry-go-round. Unfortunately, Bison wasn't going to taste the floor again.  
  
"Shinryuken!!!" Ken finally took Bison up, burning him even more along the way. Finally, when Bison, or his remains, landed, it was all burnt to a crisp. Not taking any more time, Ryu and Ken get their battered bodies up and carry Guile and Chun Li out of the Shadaloo base. Minutes after they make their way out, the base exploded into a fancy fireworks display.  
  
END FLASHBACK  
  
Back to present time...  
  
Ryu got up at 6 in the morning sharp. As per routine, he went to the mailbox outside his modest but nice home built of wood and stone to see if anything came. Usually, nothing came in, except for a letter now and then from different Street Fighters but today would be an exception. He found an envelope, bigger than those he usually got (A/N, like one of those brown ones). This intrigued him and he brought it back into his house, set it on the dining table and went out to proceed with his morning run of 3 miles. After his run and a refreshing shower, the envelope came back to his mind and he opened it. Inside, he found a one-way plane ticket from Tokyo to San Francisco, a check for the equivalent of 4000 dollars and a letter that chilled his spine.  
  
Ryu. Sorry this letter is short. We need to get everyone together. Bison is back. Enclosed is a ticket from Tokyo to San Francisco and money for your transportation.  
  
  
-Ken  
  
  
TBC  
  
  
Author's corner:  
So...how is it so far? Any good? Plz. bear with me, this is my first fic so don't flame me like mad. Give me constructive criticism. Send mail to bugbeak@yahoo.com with any comments or suggestions. See you till the next chapter.  
  
-bug-chan 


	2. Chapter 1 Reunion

Persistence  
by Bug-chan  
  
Chapter 1 - Reunion  
  
The next day after he saw the letter, Ryu made his way to Tokyo from his home in Hokkaido and hurriedly got to the airport there. When he got there, he surprisingly found E. Honda waiting, apparently in the same waiting room as Ryu.  
  
"Ryu! What a pleasant surprise!" exclaims Honda, giving him a handshake and a quick hug. Ryu returned both, with a slight smile of his own. "Where are you headed? I take it San Francisco?"  
  
Ryu lost his smile and answered with a question of his own, "I take it you got the letter as well?"  
  
"Yes. Shocking revelation indeed." Honda then paused for a moment. "I thought you said you defeated Bison for good."  
  
"I did so! In fact, you were there with the other fighters, you saw the entire base go up in flames," answered Ryu.  
  
"That I did. Still in my memory as if it happened yesterday," replied Honda. Then, a female voice came on the announce system.  
  
"Ladies and gentlemen, the gate for Japan Airlines flight 21 for San Francisco, USA has opened. Those with seats between rows 1 and 30 and those with elderly care or children, please board now."  
  
"Well, I guess we should be going now," Honda said. Ryu nodded in agreement. Suddenly, there was a loud noise coming out from the other end of the airport. "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIT!!!!!!"  
  
"Could that be?" asked Ryu, before getting knocked down by his "number one fan". "Sakura! What are you doing here?" he asked in surprise.  
  
"Hi! I'm going to San Francisco!" replied Sakura, picking herself up. She then notices Honda. "Hi Honda! How goes training?"  
  
"Very well," Honda replied with a smile.  
  
Ryu picked himself up and started, "What are you doing in San Francisco? You're still in high school, you're supposed to be in school right now!"  
  
"I got a letter," answered Sakura, showing him the letter. Ryu took it and read it. His face changed from surpise to shock in a matter of seconds.  
  
"Sakura, you can't go! This is too dangerous! You aren't strong yet," said Ryu.  
  
"Looks like everyone got the letter then," said Honda, after thinking for a second.  
  
"Well, I got this far, I'm not backing out!" retorted Sakura, then grabbed both men's arms. "Come on! The plane's gonna leave us if we hang around here too long." and boared the plane. As both men were being pulled into the plane, Ryu looked to Honda with a worried look.  
  
"I don't know about this," he muttered.  
  
"This is going to be interesting. Don't worry, she'll be watched over by many others," Honda calmed Ryu to a certain degree. The Japanese trio found their seats, which somehow was all next to each other. They all sat down, did their seatbelts and waited for the plane to take off. Along the way, they all talked about what they've done over the past year and more or less caught up with each other. Ryu (as I mentioned befor) went back into his training and meditating routine; Honda opened his own school of sumo wrestling; Sakura was in her last year of high school, almost ready for graduation.   
  
Some 13 hours later...  
  
"That was so LONG and so BORING!!!!" moaned Sakura once the group got off the plane. Now they were waiting for their luggage at the baggage claim area, sharing small talk now and then, when they heard another familiar voice.  
  
"Ryu!! Sakura!! Honda!!" shouted Chun Li. She ran over to the group with her luggage in tow, happy to see old rivals and new friends again.   
  
"Well if it isn't the strongest woman in the world," replied Honda and got a hug from her. "How have you been?"  
  
"I'm fine, working for Interpol as usual," she answered, giving hugs to Ryu, who returned one rather awkwardly, and if one looked carefully enough, with a blush as well, and to Sakura, who gleefully hugged her back. Then her smile dropped and she asked, "You guys got the letter as well?"  
  
"Yup. We're figuring that everyone else who fought Bison got the letter too, so we'll be meeting more people," replied Ryu. He and the others saw their bags coming and picked them up. "Let's go meet Ken, and let's just hope that it's a practical joke." The foursome walked out of the airport to see Ken standing next to his limousine.   
  
"Guys! Great to see you all!" he said with a huge smile. Everyone returned his smile, and then, everyone dropped their smiles. "Did you receive my letter? Looks like you did if you're all here."  
  
"Yes, we did. Did you send it out to everyone?" asked Ryu.  
  
"Yup, every single one. Some are already at my mansion and I don't know about a few others. Let's go," replied Ken and ushered the group into his limo. Seconds later, he made his way in and told the driver to take all to his mansion. Once the group arrived, they entered to see Guy and Cody sitting and talking quitely among each other, with seriousness written all over them. The mood wasn't anywhere near the mood when Ken picked the group up. "Guys, more came," Ken said, breaking them out of their seriousness. Both gave small smiles and there was some talk going between them for some time, catching up with each other.   
  
"So where are the rest?" asked Chun Li.  
  
"Blanka is in the back yard with Guile, Rose is in her room, trying to get a feel for Bison, Cammy's on the phone with MI6, Dhalsim's also in the back yard meditating with T-Hawk and Dee Jay is in his room listening to music," Ken answered.   
  
"So that leaves us with Karin, Fei Long, Gen, Zangief..." trailed Ryu.  
  
"Yeah, where's Karin? We might need her satellite again," wondered Sakura. Some of the people shuddered, remembering the sheer power of the satellite. (A/N, if u want to know more about this, play SFA3 with Karin and beat it to watch her ending) A few minutes later, Cammy walked in, finally off the phone.   
  
"I see the group has all gathered here?" Cammy inquired, looking at everyone's familiar faces. Everyone gave her some form of a greeting from smiles to hand waves.  
  
"Almost. We're still missing a few," replied Ken.   
  
"Not anymore!" said a voice that sounded somewhat like that of a girl of Sakura's age. Everyone turned to the front door and saw Karin walk in with Fei Long, Gen, Zangief and Dan. There was more greetings traded among everyone, the most noticeable between Karin and Sakura. Once everyone calmed down and became serious, they all turned to Ken for some sort of explanation beside the obvious.  
  
"Before we begin, can someone go get everyone else either outside or in the rooms?" Ken requested. A few people went upstairs and the back yard and the entire group was finally assembled. "Now all of you know that Bison's back, right?" All heads nodded. "Now please follow me," Ken said and took the entire group to what looked like a business room full of chairs and a projector with a laptop in the middle. "Have a seat and I shall get going." Once everyone got comfortable, they looked back at Ken, who was typing something into the laptop. A minute later, the projector came on, along with the first slide. "This is a graph of the amount of drugs that was confiscated within the past year. This," Ken said, pointing to the leftmost bar of the graph, "was when Shadaloo was destroyed. Drug sales went into an all-time low, almost to the point of zero. Now as we go by the months," he continued as he slid the pointer across the graph, "the graph remains more or less the same. Now, if we look at this bar here," he said, pointing to the last few bars on the right side, "drug sales have skyrocketed, even higher than the amount Bison was trafficking before Shadaloo was destroyed. It's at an all-time high right now." Ken then pressed a key on the keyboard, showing an almost identical graph. "This one shows the amount of illegal weapons trafficked. Same time periods when it was at an all-time high and low. And the same goes for human smuggling," he said after showing a third graph which was almost identical as well. Everyone was holding a calm face, but the tension in the room was, without a doubt, high, higher than ever.   
  
"So Bison IS back," Guile muttered, emphasizing the "is". Everyone nodded their heads in agreement. "How do we get to him? We don't have any maps or anything like that whatsoever."  
  
"That one's been taken care of," Cammy answered, getting all the attention of the group. "MI6 has found out that there's going to be another Street Fighter tournament, this time in Cambodia."  
  
"He's hosting it this time for money and fighters. After all, he did lose everything a year ago," Chun Li added.   
  
"But that'll only lead to Bison, and not the base. If Bison goes down, there'll be others who can take his place, like that psychopath Vega," Ryu said. There was some talking among people over different things. Finally Ken took over again.   
  
"Guys, that'll be enough for today. Let's all get some rest and talk this over tomorrow. We'll plan with a fresh head, right now everyone's tired. Hopefully, Interpol or MI6 will be able to provide some more intelligence by then," Ken said. Everyone decided to do as he suggested and proceeded to their rooms.   
  
MEANWHILE, SOMEWHERE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA  
  
Bison laid on a metal table with all sorts of IV drips and machines hooked up to his battered and burnt body. Around him stood Juli, Juni, Barlog, Sagat, Birdie and Vega. They were all faithfully watching over their master, lying down defenseless.  
  
"I guess by now they've gotten word of the street fighter tournament already?" Bison coughed. Even with his battered body, his evil and sharp mind stayed unaffected.  
  
"Yes sir. MI6 has already relayed the information to Cammy White," replied Juni automatically. Ever since Shadaloo blew up, Juni went to work as an MI6 agent, becoming a double-agent of sorts, but not telling them anything about her affiliation with Shadaloo.   
  
"I have received word that the fighters have gathered at Ken Master's house already about a few hours ago," reported Barlog after Juni.  
  
"Good, everything is going according to plan. This time, they will not go so easily," Bison said, with an evil glint in his eyes.   
  
  
TBC  
  
  
A/N = I'm aware I've brought back a bunch of characters but only a few has said or done anything. I'll try to put more words and/or action for them later on...and someone plz give me suggestions as to how to give Dan a serious look? :)  
  
BTW, more than my email, give me a line at any of the following IMs:  
AIM - Rodamn98  
ICQ - 47858010  
MSN - bugbeak@hotmail.com  
MSN - enjoy_your_worthless_life@yahoo.com 


	3. Chapter 2 A plan that goes horribly wro...

Persistence  
by Bug-chan  
  
Chapter 2 - Plans that go wrong  
  
The next day, everyone woke up, feeling much better and fresher than yesterday. Ryu, Honda, Gen, Dhalsim and Fei Long woke up earlier than the rest and proceeded to meditate in the back yard. Once everyone got up, they stopped meditating and went to get a shower before starting plans for another encounter with Bison.  
  
AN HOUR LATER...  
  
"I see everyone's gathered here," said Ken, looking over to see if anyone was missing. He saw none and continued, "Do we have any new leads or maps of any kind?"  
  
Chun Li stood up. "Intel has reported to me that the tournament will be held ten days from today. Exact location within Cambodia hasn't been confirmed yet."  
  
"Great, that's a start. Anyone else?" asked Ken.  
  
Cammy then stood up. "Here are some satellite images that MI6 has sent to me. Lights please?" Dan, nearest to the light switch, got up and hit the switch, darkening the room. "This is a satellite photo of northern Cambodia. We are going to use this temple here, Angkor Wat, as a point of reference. Roughly 300 kilometers east of here is the border between Cambodia and Laos. Now, near that border," Cammy then zoomed in to that part of the map, "the satellite picked up some activity."  
  
"What kind of activity? It's a border so anything could be going on," asked Guile, analyzing the map and putting it to his memory bank for further reference.  
  
"That's a very good question. It seems like normal border trading between Laos and Cambodia, harmless stuff. Or it could be illegal goods--" answered Cammy before being cut off.  
  
"Which means drugs or weapons," cut off Ken before realizing the relevation and stopping in horror.  
  
"that Bison needs to rebuild Shadoloo!" finished Ryu, vocalizing Ken's thoughts. The room went into an uproar with the anger level rising among almost everyone.  
  
"Now stop!" Gen, who didn't say anything since coming to San Francisco, got up and shouted. The room became silent as quickly as it became noisy. Everyone respected Gen not just for his age, but more for his wisdom. He seemed to have a solution or advice for any sort of problem that people might run into and that was what every other Street Fighter respected him for. "Indeed, the extra activity could point out to Bison. But we are jumping into conclusions. Do not let your anger and your fear cloud your mind and judgement." The rest of the group digested what he said, then calmed down, back into their seats. "I suggest we all have a break to clear our minds." he said, then left the room. Soon, the others followed suit.  
  
Half an hour later, the group reassembled in the room. "As we speak, I am having a private flight prepared to take all of us to Cambodia. This is what we should do first before we can plan anything else. So please go back to your rooms and pack up your belongings." Ken announced. Then everyone went back to get their belongings and a few minutes later, all came down with their bags. A number of cars were called and they all took the fighters to the airport where the plane was waiting.   
  
AN HOUR LATER  
  
Once the plane was at cruising altitude, the group went into the plane's meeting room (A/N imagine the meeting room in Air Force One, only bigger).   
  
Karin decided to speak first once everyone was seated. "Okay, my satellite has taken some video footage of the area that Cammy pointed out earlier in the day and this is what took place." A black-and-white video came up, with a great deal of terrain all over it. Trucks and people went north and south regularly. "Now if you notice here, the trucks move up and down in rather regular fashion, like a heartbeat."  
  
"It's too regular. A border crossing cannot be that smooth at all times," said Fei Long. He could base that on his experience in entering and leaving Hong Kong for China; despite the fact that the border was a strait, it wasn't exactly smooth or regular.   
  
"But as Gen said, it is still too early. We must give it some more time. Karin, can you arrange for a constant recording of this border, even during nighttime?" asked Honda.  
  
"Easy to do," answered Karin confidently. "Guess all we can do right now is to relax and wait for a few days." The group then broke up into smaller groups with differnt people clustered together, catching up with each other.   
  
ANOTHER TWELVE MORE HOURS LATER  
  
The plane finally landed in Cambodia and the fighters proceeded to a hotel to spend the first two nights before they took off for the border. The group checked in and soon two fighters each occupied a room. The tired fighters all fell asleep very quicky. Suddenly, a few hours later, the building shook a bit, like an earthquake, jolting all the fighters awake.  
  
"A bomb?" asked Cammy, looking at Chun Li, her temporary roommate. Then the window broke, followed by two men entirely covered in black. Once they got on their feet, both took out some knives and threw at the two women still in bed. Before either woman knew what was going on, T-Hawk barged through the door, surprising both assassins.   
  
"Condor Dive!!" he shouted before jumping up and crashing into one of the assassins diagonally. He knocked his target out senseless. He then got up to see the second man in black about to chuck the knife originally intended for Cammy or Chun Li at him.   
  
"Kiko-ken!!!" shouted Chun Li, then followed up by delivering her own fireball straight at the man. It hit the mark perfectly and he toppled over, unconscious as well.   
  
"Thank you. I owe you," T-Hawk said after fully recovering.  
  
"No, we are even," replied Chun Li, thinking back to his entrance. Seconds later, she heard another door break and the two women with T-Hawk came out to the hallway to see two more identical men on the floor on top of what used to be a door, then saw Guile and Blanka walk out of the room. "You guys OK there?" Chun Li shouted. Blanka nodded at her along with Guile. "Let's check on everyone else, just to be sure," Chun Li suggested, The rest agreed and started to go to different rooms.  
  
Chun Li went next door, where Gen and Fei Long were staying for the night. One man was down, apparently by Fei Long, but the other was still trying to attack Gen. Gen didn't do anything but calmly dodge all the attacks thrown at him. Then suddenly, to the surprise to all those watching him, Gen kicked the black-clad man high, then proceeded to soumersault-kick him another four more times before he let him come down, knocked out. "Gen! Fei Long! Are you all right?" Chun Li finally asked. Both nodded and went out with Chun Li to look up the other rooms.  
  
Meanwhile, Cammy went next door the opposite direction. Just as she was about to open the door, she heard a THUMP!, followed seconds later by a CRASH! then another CRASH!. She busted the door open and assumed a fighting stance, only to see that there was a hole on the floor in front of Zangief and there was also a pair of black-clad legs dangling from the top. Apparently, Dan's Kouryuuken did the job a bit too well and sent the unfortunate man flying. As if on cue, both men replied, "We're fine" and left with Cammy to check and possibly help.  
  
Guile and Blanka made their way to Ryu's and Ken's room and found it to be oddly silent. He cautiously and silently opened to door only to see that both men were facing both black-clad men in silence, as if there was some form of a staring contest. Then, without any warning whatsoever, Ryu dashed forward, grabbed the man standing directly in his line and pushed him hard against the wall. The other man looked back, surprised, only to see Ryu gathering a massive amount of ki, followed by "Shinkuu....Hadoken!!!" The ki made its way towards the other man and got him on the spot. The multiple hits made him take some steps back, only to realize that his ordeal was only part over.  
  
"Shinryuken!!!" shouted Ken, followed by a trail of fire leading towards the roof. This sent the man flying up like a rocket; he broke through five floors before getting stuck on the sixth. "How's the rest?" he then asked Guile, who now had the door wide open with Blanka.  
  
"Cammy, Chun Li, Blanka, Gen, Dan, Zangief and T-Hawk are OK. We're going to look for the others since you've taken care of business here," replied Guile and took off with Blanka to the next room. Ryu and Ken walked outside as well and went to opposite ends of the hall to make sure no one else came in or was going to come in.   
  
Chun Li, Gen and Fei Long went next door and see Guy and Cody engage with their pair of men in black. "Houzanto!" exclaimed Guy before elbowing his opponent, sending him into a wall. Cody proceeded to give him a new meaning of dizziness with a "Criminal Upper!" giving him a beating and a spinning. "We're clear here," Cody tells them. Then Sakura made herself heard with her own "Shinkuu...Hadoken!!!" sending one assassin into Cody's room. They peek inside to see that other one's down already, at the feet of Karin, who looks down at it disgustingly. A second later, Dhalsim teleported in front of the small group in what was first Cody's and Guy's room, followed by Rose. "Any way you can determine the culprit?" asked Dhalsim.  
  
"I sense a strong evil, stronger than anything else I've sensed before...it's even stronger than Bison!" she exclaimed in shock. Everyone there gasped because they knew despite the fact that tarot card reading and psychic abilities weren't exactly explainable by science, they trusted Rose and her judgement. Soon, a shout brought them back when two bodies were flying through the hallway, with an angry E.Honda being their bullet. He stopped in front of the room and let the bodies fly on, watching it ram into the wall at the end of the hallway. Ryu, who happened to be there, turned back towards the source, who waved back, apologizing.   
  
Chun Li, with all the people she saw, came and met up with Cammy and the group residing in Cody's room. "Do we have everyone?" she asked, doing a head count.  
  
"No, we're missing Dee Jay. Hasn't anyone seen him?" asked Sakura.  
  
"Oh but he's here!" cackled a voice from the other end of the hall, where Ken was supposed to be. Instead, Ken was on the floor, unconscious, and the window was open, with the slender body of a Spanish matador about to step out with a knocked-out Dee Jay on his shoulder.   
  
"Vega! Put him down, NOW!" yelled Ryu, getting into a fighting stance.  
  
"Not a chance! See you all at the tournament!" cackled Vega again, then proceeded to take Dee Jay with him out the window. The group ran towards the window, with T-Hawk trying to revive Ken.   
  
'Shit! Bison's got Dee Jay!' was the thought that went through everyone's head.  
  
TBC  
  
A/N: I made a little mistake at the end of chapter 1. enjoy_your_worthless_life@yahoo.com is my Yahoo Messenger account. I didn't pay attention to that detail. Your positive reviews are all encouraging so I will try my best to keep this going. Till the next chapter... 


	4. Chapter 3 Moving in

Persistence  
by Bug-chan  
  
Chapter 3 - Moving in  
  
A few hours later, all the other fighters gathered their things again and moved out of the hotel, without the Carribean reggae lover, towards the Cambodia branch of Interpol, where Chun Li was. A few hours, they made it and met Chun Li, who led them to a presentation room.  
  
"Here's the video footage of an entire day, day and night, of the border area. When Karin showed a small footage, it showed regular activity on the border, as if it was like a heartbeat. Well, it's like that too at night," the Chinese officer said and fast-forwarded to a point where it said "2000 hours". The trucks in the video still moved like that during the day, this time, without people. "I've asked the Laotian and Cambodian governments about whether they trade at night and the answer was 'Never'."  
  
"So...that leaves us with one possibility," said Honda, twirling with his ponytail that happened not to be bound behind his head at the moment.  
  
"Illegal activity," finished Chun Li. Most of the people nodded.  
  
"So shall we get going to the border? I think it's best we see what actually goes on with our own eyes," suggested the American Major.  
  
"I second that," agreed Cammy. "Let's get going then. I'll have MI6 arrange transportation within half an hour."  
  
A FEW HOURS LATER  
  
The group got off near the border, close enough to see that there were trucks going back and forth indeed quite regularly. Rose then started, "Beware, I sense a great evil and disturbance within those trucks." Everyone then looked at the beautiful psychic in question.  
  
"Bison?" Fei Long vocalized everyone's thoughts. Rose didn't answer to that immediately; instead, she went deeper into thought, trying to pinpoint it.  
  
"Most likely so. The evil is very strong, but it is...different...than Bison. It could be his revived form, or it could be someone else, but there is no one who can be more evil than Bison," replied the psychic. Karin then took out her laptop and punched in some keys.  
  
"I'm tracing the trucks within Cambodia. They aren't going too far from here, roughly a mile or two along the road," Karin announced.  
  
"Then what happens to the trucks?" Asked Guile.  
  
"They just...what the? They just disappear!!" exclaimed the girl with braided hair (A/N help me with her description, she's got weird hair).   
  
"Interesting," mumbled Dhalsim. Then a cell phone rang and Cammy picked it up. She talked for about a minute before hanging up. "The place where the tournament is going to be held has been fully confirmed. It's near the place where the trucks disappear," the British agent announced.  
  
"Best get moving. We will plan better once we see everything," replied Zangief and the fighters started moving. A while later, under the bright tropic sun and the unbelievable humidity typical in Southeast Asia, the group arrived, sweaty and tired, more tired than usual after trekking for one mile. The entire group travelled with a serious air, as if a cloud of seriousness descended on them and dragged them along. Ken, always the cocky one, decided to lighten up the group a tad bit and tapped on Chun Li's wet, white T-shirt-clad shoulder.  
  
"Yes?" she asked, then noticed that the American Shotokan master wasn't exactly looking at her. No, he was looking at her but more at her...well-endowed...assets. "If you keep looking at my chest like that, I'm gonna call Eliza this minute and tell her you've been cheating on her," she threatened.  
  
"Aww? But you yourself know that you attract glances, especially given your outfit right now?" Ken asked, his voice sounding like a whining six-year-old boy. This caused the Chinese fighter to blush, who proceeded to throw a punch at him. It connected and Ken fell down, painfully. This brought out looks of contempt and snickers from the group. He brought himself up with a goofy smile of his own and caught up with the group, now having lost the serious air.  
  
'Immature as usual,' Ryu thought to himself, shaking his head lightly before walking along with the group. He then glanced at Chun Li, and couldn't help but blush himself too, albeit lighter than the aforementioned fighter, and have a certain feeling engulf inside of him. 'What is this feeling? I've never felt this before,' he thought, then quelled the feeling as quickly as it surfaced.   
  
The group kept going, keeping an eye on the trucks while maintaining some distance between the trail and them. Then they found out how the trucks disappeared. "Look there," said Sakura, pointing to where the trucks appeared to be going down somewhere.  
  
"Tunnels," inferred Dhalsim. "They are good with deceit."  
  
"Indeed," said Gen, scratching his massive white beard. "Even more inconspicuous than a temple. They are growing smarter."  
  
"The satellite doesn't show any other exit or entrance. That's the only opening it's picking up," Karin said, looking at her laptop once again.  
  
"Guess we'll have to search on our own then. Let's split into two groups, one will go in here to look for Dee Jay and the other will go sign up and participate in the street fighter tournament," suggested Sakura. She paused, then added, "And I'm going to participate in the tournament!!!" Ryu could only shake his head at this, wondering whether it was her or Ken that was more immature. A minute later, Ryu, Chun Li, Sakura, Guile, Dan, Gen and Zangief took off towards the tournament grounds while the rest of the group stayed back and tried to think of a way to enter the premises unnoticed.  
  
TBC  
  
A/N - OK, that's enough planning for once, even I'm getting sick of it! Thanks go to my reviewers for their comments about this fic; i'm even surprising myself by keeping on going. Keep those reviews coming! and btw, sorry for the short chapter, I thought this would be the best place to end it. I also hoped you enjoyed the small comic relief I put in this chapter. 


	5. Chapter 4 The basemen part 1 of 2

Persistence  
by Bug-chan  
  
Chapter 4-1 - The basemen  
  
Ken, Dhalsim, Cammy, Karin, Fei Long, Blanka, Honda, Cody, Guy, Rose and T-Hawk slowly snuck up to a hill high enough to cover the group and close enough to the base.  
  
"Anyone have ideas as to how to get into the base?" asked Cody.   
  
"We could rush and try to crawl underneath the trucks, that way we can get in unnoticed," suggested Guy. Honda raised his hand up.  
  
"Objection," the sumo wrestler said. The Bushin ninja took one look at him and slapped his head with his palms, feeling like an idiot. "Given that this base has only one entrance, we can only make a flashy one," Honda said.  
  
"Fiashy, but not too flashy," Cody countered. "Let's see what some rocks can do to the convoy," he said, then picked up some rocks and threw them in a perfect arc, breaking two windshields. The convoy came to a sudden stop and all the drivers near that truck ran out towards the broken truck frantically, talking in loud voices. "I say we enter."  
  
"Second that," agreed Cammy and the group made a run for the entrance. Just as they made it past the opening, guards came out to check on the commotion, only to see an unfamiliar group run towards them. They prepared their machine guns only to see a white and green blur and to be struck by the combined "Sumo Head Butt!!!!" and a "Roll Attack!!!" The other guards looked at the sumo wrestler and the green machine in shock, which both fighters used to give them a whacking. "Hundread Hand Slap!!!" was heard, followed by a flurry of hand movements and slapping noises, knocking out two more guards.   
  
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!" All the fighters turned to Blanka, who happened to have electrocuted the other guards. Both fighters turned back to the group and gave them a thumbs-up, only to see the rest with wide eyes and slack jaws. They then turned around to see Dee Jay, with that perpetual smile of his. The Carribean's smile then turned to a sneer as he smashed both fighters' heads, rendering them unconscious.   
  
"DEE JAY!!!" shouted out Cammy, running towards him, with the group in fast pursuit. As soon as both fighters fell, many black-clad men then fell down, blocking their way and buying him some time to get away. This time around, they learned the lesson of their fallen comrades and brought along a variety of weaponry, charging and throwing them at the fighters. "SCATTER!" screamed Cammy and everyone soon went into different ways, confusing the men for a second. And all Cammy needed was one second to yell out "Cannon Spike!" and uppercut the man in black right in front of her, sending him flying.  
  
"WAAACHAAA!!" yelled Fei Long as he delivered numerous kicks towards another man's body. It didn't give him enough time to attack, let alone think about one, before he fell over, knocked out. He looked around, then laid his eyes on Dhalsim, who then proceeded to mumble,  
  
"Yoga Flame," followed by an inferno brought on by his mouth and body alone. This pushed back some of the men, unknowingly towards a certain ex-convict, preparing himself for a Criminal Upper, crouching and gathering momentum for the short trip up. The men got in range and up he flew, taking them with him, and bringing them back down as quickly as he brought them up. Once they were out, Dhalsim nodded towards Cody, who smiled back at him. Both then broke eye contact when they heard a certain "Soul Sprial!" They turned to Rose, who proceeded to drill a guard with her shawl before letting him go and succumb to the painless world of unconsciousness. Once at least half of the men were down, the rest stopped fighting and ran off.  
  
"Apparently, they weren't here to keep us out of the base; they were here to buy time," T-Hawk mumbled.   
  
"For them to take Blanka and Honda away. I think that much is obvious," said Cody.   
  
"No, there's more. I can sense it; they aren't just buying time to take those two away...it's for something else...something even more sinister," replied Rose in a soft voice, slightly levitating off the ground. Cammy heard enough and whipped out her cellphone and pressed a certain number.  
  
*This is Xiang.* was heard from the other end.  
  
"Chun Li, this is Cammy, we have a drastic problem here. Blanka and Honda have been taken away," Cammy told her as calmly as she could.  
  
*Blanka and Honda have what what???* Chun Li asked in disbelief. She wanted to be sure that either this was a nasty joke or a serious problem.  
  
"You heard me. They've been kidnapped," Cammy reiterated her news to Chun Li. She heard some silence for a second, followed by the voices of other fighters in the background.   
  
*All right, just keep going in. We're at the tournament grounds already and it's almost ready to begin. Good luck on finding them,* said Chun Li, amid the slowly growing background noise.  
  
"All right, good luck to you guys too. White out," (no pun intended) Cammy hung up her cellphone. "Well, let's get going. Now we see what Bisom is up to AND get our guys back!" and everyone stormed into the base.  
  
TBC  
  
A/N - I haven't seen much reviews about my previous chapters but anyways...I would greatly appreciate the reviews; this way I can get a better feel for what I'm doing right and what I can improve on. So here's one half of Chapter 4. Second half coming up pretty soon. And I'll try to work on this over the weekends as well.  
  
Thanks go to kikoken for the constant encouragement!!   
  
REMEMBER, KEEP THOSE REVIEWS COMING!!!! 


	6. Chapter 4 The most obvious ones part 2 ...

Persistence  
by Bug-chan  
  
Chapter 4-2 - The most obvious ones part 2 of 2  
  
Meanwhile, over at the tournament grounds...  
  
"Bad news. Blanka and Honda have been caputured," Chuns Li broke the news amid shocked and surprised faces.  
  
"So what do we do?" asked Sakura, somewhat worriedly. The Chinese inspector gave the Japanese adolescen a comforting look, like how a mom tells her child not to worry. Sakura's worries went down but worry was still etched on her face.  
  
"We should just go on and do as planned," Guile suggested.  
  
"For now," Gen added. The group reached the fighting grounds soon after. It didn't exactly look like a fighting tournament, but more like a bazaar. Kiosks were all over the place, selling things ranging from carpets and small furniture to swords and daggers to electronic gadgets of all kinds. The people mingling weren't all the locals, which surprised the Street Fighter veterans; there was a mix of Caucasians, Africans and Hispanics among the Asian locals. Soon, Ryu spotted a table that had "Registration" written in front of it.   
  
"OK, obviously, we all cannot participate in this tournament. Some of us must mingle with the spectators, given the variety of it this time around and look around," said Guile. The moment he finished saying that, a hand shot up. "Yes?" the American army man asked, looking at the source.  
  
"I wanna fight!" said Sakura, like a giddy schoolgirl. Guile could only shake his head and sigh. 'Girls,' he thought. "All right, Sakura shall participate. Who else would like to join her?" he asked, then noticed Gen's head go up. "Very well, another?" he said and Ryu's hand went up, much to the happiness of Sakura, finally able to see her idol and teacher fight. "One more," and Zangief's hand was seen in the air. "OK, that's the fighting group. The rest will stay and look around in the audience." Just then Chun Li came back with a bunch of electronic gadgets. "What'd you get there?" he asked, curious.   
  
"I got some microcommunicators. Surprisingly, these kiosks have some interesting goods. I wonder where they got all of them," Chun Li replied, then took out a small black bead-like object. It was as big as a dime and as thick as a sheet of paper. "These communicators fit right in the ear and you can easily cover them with your hair. I bought them with different colors so please pick out the right one. They are also capable of picking up what you and only you say so keep that in mind. Any questions?" There was no response. Chun Li nodded, then the fighters picked out the communicators of their color of choice, Sakura and Ryu picking out brown ones and Zangief and Gen picking out peach ones. Soon the others picked up communicators and the fighting group then headed over to the registration table to sign in while the others joined the crowd, browsing and occasionally talking to each other, trying to look as normal and nondescript as possible. They even went as far as buying some other clothes and changing into them. A few minutes later, a chime was heard and all kiosk activity stopped. "The tournament will begin in one minute," said an announcer, and all spectators gathered near the fighting ring, as big as 4 sumo circles.   
  
"The first match of today's Street Fighter tournament shall be...Ha-Doh Lee of South Korea," stopped the announcer to let a fighter come out and prepare, "and Sakura Kusanago of Japan!" Sakura came out and tried to look for the rest of the group.  
  
"Where are you guys?" she harshly whispered. A second later, she saw a head bob up and down, somewhat like the moles in a Whack-a-Mole game. The Japanese schoolgirl noticed that and was somewhat surprised for a second to see Chun Li wear a tank top and denim hot pants, along with the fact that her hair was done in a ponytail instead of the trademark buns, before she continued walking. She stood about a yard away from the Korean fighter, clad in a white gi with a black belt. He stood roughly 5'9" and had a somewhat chiseled face that didn't seem fit for anger or fighting. Both faced each other and bowed towards each other in respect, then assumed fighting stances.   
  
"Ready...Fight!"  
  
The fight was on and the Korean fighter dashed towards Sakura. She was prepared for a dash of some sort and twirled around the rushing fighter, giving her school uniform a slight rise, and started after him with her fist out. It connected. "Sho~ken!" she shouted and punched him a few more times before taking him up into the air with an uppercut and bringing him down hard on his back. He immediately got up and instead of dashing into her like before, he stayed back a bit, apparently contemplating his next move and sizing up his opponent. 'Heh, thought a schoolgirl would be a piece of cake eh?' Sakura thought. He then made some fake dash-ins, just dipping his upper half of the body towards the schoolgirl, which slowly started to frustrate her. Soon, she had enough of it and dashed towards him but instead of just running into him she stopped a foot or two away, turned a leg around and went towards him, leg outstretched and ready to deal damage. "Shunpuuyaku!" she shouted as the leg connected, knocking him over. This time, the Korean fighter got up more slowly, apparently not being able to snap out of some sort of dizziness brought on by the kick. She took this opportunity to back off a tad bit, run in, shouting "Midare Zakura!" and proceeded to give the unfortunate opponent a flurry of kicks and punches and a merciful uppercut that took him to the peaceful land of unconsiousness. Sakura backed off a bit, bowed down to him once more and walked off the ring. "The winner of this match is Sakura Kusanago of Japan!" exclaimed the announcer, evoking a large amount of cheer from the crowd.   
  
"I thought she was just a lovestruck girl who only admired Ryu for his looks," whispered Chun Li, still in awe over Sakura's skill at martial arts.  
  
"Indeed. I have underestimated her as well," Guile added, next to the Chinese inspector. Dan stayed there, silent and only looking on. The ponytailed man then looked to his right to see someone else looking at him intently.   
  
"Umm...Chun Li? Guile?" Dan called, somewhat nervously.  
  
"Hmm?" asked Guile, looking at Dan.  
  
"I think you should look at this..." Dan trailed off, his normally happy face replaced by nervousness and fear. The other two looked at what Dan was looking at.  
  
"Don't tell me," Chun Li first said.  
  
"Bison's androids," Guile finished. "I'll go after him, you and Dan stay in the crowd," he said before heading towards the mystery man. When the American major got within strking distance, the mystery man started to walk away as if he didn't do anything. Guile slowly and stealthily followed him aound before he got to one of the stalls, got on all fours and disappeared into one of the stalls. "Damnit," he growled softly. "Chun Li, Guile. I lost him. He just disappeared into one of the kiosks," Guile said dejectedly.  
  
*Rodger. Come back into the crowd. Bison probably has more of those androids around the place anyway,* Chun Li replied back. Guile then headed back to the crowd and disappeared. The android got out of the kiosk it was hiding under and made its way back to Shadaloo.  
  
"Sakura. Ryu. Zangief. Gen. Do any of you see suspicious activity back there?" asked Guile.  
  
*Sakura here, nothing that I know of," she replied, looking around to see nothing but fighters warming up.   
  
*This is Ryu. Everything's normal," the warrior answered back.  
  
*This is Gen speaking. I see no sign of abnormalities," Gen said. Then in place of Zangief's gruff tone, there was absolute silence.   
  
"Zangief? You there? Say anything," Guile said. No response. "You guys, look for him there," Ryu, Sakura and Gen started to look all around backstage, Sakura even popping out her head outside to look for the Russian muscleman. 'With a body like that, he should be easily recognizable,' Sakura thought, still looking around and not seeing any hint of him.  
  
Ryu kept on walking and observing the fighters, hoping that he didn't mistake Zangief for anyone else. Then he stepped on something, breaking it with a "crunch" and followed by an extremely high-pitched sound that nearly made his ear deaf. After he gathered himself and changed ears, he looked at the thing he broke and paled. "This is Ryu," he started, the paused. "Zangief's caught also."  
  
MEANWHILE, RIGHT OUTSIDE THE FIGHTING GROUNDS  
  
Sagat and Barlog both dragged a large bag while breathing hard and sweating under the tropical heat.  
  
"Man, who thought dragging a body would be this much work?" Barlog grumbled.  
  
"You idiot, this one is different from usual!" Sagat exclaimed back at the Chicago boxer.  
  
"True but it's still hard work nonetheless," he countered back at the tall, eye-patch-clad Muy Thai ex-champion. Both proceeded in silence towards Shadaloo, dragging Zangief's unconcsious body.  
  
TBC  
  
A/N - Sorry for the long long delay, I got carried away by READING, as opposed to WRITING fanfics for a while. I'll try to keep this coming at a stead rate. Remember readers, REVIEw!!!! 


End file.
